Baldock and District Canoe Club mixed with the best at the 2008 Hull International Canoe Polo Competition. Canoe polo, one of the eight disciplines of canoeing pursued in the UK, is a fast and exciting full contact team ball game that combines paddling wi

Baldock and District Canoe Club mixed with the best at the 2008 Hull International Canoe Polo Competition.

Canoe polo, one of the eight disciplines of canoeing pursued in the UK, is a fast and exciting full contact team ball game that combines paddling with ball handling skills.

Five players per team attempt to play the ball around the pitch in order to score more goals than the opposing team.

Baldock Babes, who usually sit mid-table in the National Division Two, entered the ladies' competition with intrepidation as other entrants included a National Division One team and the national squads of Scotland, Wales and New Zealand!

The girls beat the British Combined Services team (the joint Army, Air Force and Navy team) 3-0 on Saturday.

Sunday saw them play against the New Zealand national team who head to Canada next month for the World Championships.

Baldock Babes were able to fight through the New Zealand defence to score a goal, although they lost the game 14-1, and they finished a respectable fifth in the competition.

It was a slow start for Letchworth in the Open Division Three competition, and through bad luck of the draw they ended up in the lower half of the divisional play-offs. However, Sunday saw a change in fortunes as they won all their games convincingly to win the lower half playoffs and finish ninth out of 16 teams.

The Bedford Raiders, who included brothers Colin and Patrick Tomkins from Baldock and District CC, were playing in the Open Division One competition having won the Division Two competition for three consecutive years.

They were playing against the top open teams from the UK and some international teams such as the New Zealand men's team.

The Raiders narrowly lost to the Kiwi men's team and convincingly beat the local team, Kingston Krakens.

The Bedford Raiders, plus Michelle Grudzinski (Baldock Babes) and Caroline Day (Letchworth), head to Ypres in Belgium for another international tournament in August.

This weekend sees the Baldock club taking part in the next round of the UK Canoe Slalom season at Orton Mere, Peterborough.